The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes

[Pigy]

   

The story is told in the first person by Lázaro de Tormes, a boy of humble origins who recounts his life from childhood to adulthood. Lázaro is the son of a poor miller and a washerwoman, and his early life is marked by hardship and poverty. After his father dies, his mother remarries, and Lázaro is eventually given as a servant to a blind beggar.Throughout the novella, Lázaro serves a series of masters, each more corrupt and morally dubious than the last. These include the blind beggar, a miserly priest, and a hypocritical nobleman. Lázaro learns to survive by his wits, often resorting to clever tricks and deceptions to feed himself and avoid punishment.The novella is a sharp social satire, exposing the hypocrisy and corruption of various figures of authority in 16th-century Spain. It is a critique of the rigid class structures and the moral decay of society, as seen through the eyes of a resourceful but downtrodden protagonist.
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